1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates in general to a hair dryer/blower and specifically to a portable hair dryer/blower that is so constructed as to enable it to physically stand alone on its own base and that has not only a voltage regulating circuit to control the heat produced by the element but also has a variable air inlet control, a variable air outlet control and a power control circuit that allows the heating element to obtain full heat and then pulses it to maintain the set heat at a less power consumption of the battery
2. Description of Related Art Including Information Disclosed Under 37 CFR 1.97 and 1.98
There are many different types of hair dryers/blowers. However, none are known by applicant that are portable. For instance, typical hair dryers are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,195,217, 5,555,637 and 5,701,681. All of them, however, have AC cords attached and are not portable and self-contained.
It would be desirable to have a hair dryer/blower that is portable and held in one hand to provide the user freedom with the other hand for actions such as simultaneously using additional styling tools thus aiding in the creation of different styling techniques. Further, it would be desirable to construct the hair dryer/blower such that it will stand by itself on its base and is balanced when held thereby offering improvements in ease of operation due to minimizing the effects of the combined weight on the wrist and arm of the user. It would also be desirable in such case to conserve battery power by enabling the heating element to attain full heat and then to pulse the voltage or current applied to it in such a ratio as to simply enable the heat to be maintained depending on blower speed and air input and output.
Also, it would e desirable to provide a unit as part of the hair dryer/blower that enables a fluid to be selectively dispensed at the anterior end thereof.
Thus, the present invention relates to a portable hair dryer/blower assembly that has a number of important features. The first is that it is portable and self-contained and includes an electric heat generating coil and blower assembly.
In addition, the battery assembly, with its weight, serves as a stand for the dryer/blower and provides a means to weight balance the complete assembly when used.
The power source may contain a built-in charger or a portion of the charger such as a rectifier unit to allow AC power to coupled directly to the battery source and allow multiple batteries to be simultaneously charged.
In addition, the battery could be simply charged with DC from a power transformer coupled to a wall assembly and providing DC output in a typical fashion.
The battery is secured once it is offered internally to the dryer handle and can be inserted in only the correct way.
Also, the batteries are of a higher than normal voltage to permit a lower and longer current demand for an equivalent wattage. The desired voltage is 14 volts or above.
The dryer also has an adjustable air inlet on the posterior end of the elongated hollow body portion for regulating the amount of air entering the elongated hollow body portion. This adjustable air inlet may include a series of parallel vanes or slats that are adjustable from a minimum separation from each other to allow a minimum airflow into the elongated hollow body portion and a maximum separation from each other to allow a maximum airflow into the elongated hollow body portion.
The novel dryer/blower may also include an adjustable air outlet in the anterior end of the elongated hollow body portion for regulating the amount of air exiting the elongated hollow body portion. This adjustable air outlet may comprise an adjustable iris similar to the F-stops on a camera so that, simply by rotating a ring, the iris petals are moved closer together or further apart to form a small or large eye through which the air can pass.
Thus, the dryer/blower has the ability to supply only ambient airflow at various cubic feet per minute by regulating the anterior and posterior air inlet and air outlet as well as the ability to supply heated air at various cubic feet per minute and temperatures.
The novel dryer/blower may have a circuit that pulse modulates current or voltage to the heating element providing a duty cycle that enables the stored static heat of the heating element to be used and periodically replenished. The advantage is longer heating element life, increased battery life, increased usefulness between charges, and reduced currents when using xe2x80x9cdeep discharge battery technologyxe2x80x9d which is very costly. This pulsing circuit is activated under certain conditions when the heat button is depressed. The blower motor is operated independent of the pulsing circuit used with the heating element.
This novel pulsing circuit provides a means of regulating or preventing the dryer from over-temperature and extending the life of the heating element.
Thus, it is an object of the present invention to provide a portable, cordless hair dryer/blower that has a capability of standing alone.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide a portable hair dryer/blower that has the weight balanced by aligning the mass center lines of the elongated body portion, the handle portion and the battery base portion to provide a unit that will stand on its base and that will have proper hand and arm balance during use.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide an adjustable air inlet on the posterior end of the elongated hollow body portion for regulating the amount of air entering the elongated hollow body portion.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide adjustable air outlet on the anterior end of the elongated hollow body portion for regulating the amount of air exiting the elongated hollow body portion.
It is also an object of the present invention to provide the novel adjustable air outlet with an iris mechanism mounted on the anterior end of the elongated hollow body portion and having petal portions moveable with respect to each other to form a controllable variable size opening from a minimum to a maximum.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide a novel heating control circuit connected between the heating element and the control switches for enabling control of the amount of heating current applied to the heating element.
It is also an object of the present invention to provide a circuit for supplying maximum heating current to the heating element to raise the temperature of the heating element quickly to a desired temperature.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a pulser circuit connected to the base of a power transistor for gating a power transistor at a predetermined on and off rate to maintain the heating element at a desired temperature once it has reached that temperature.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a manual control for setting the desired off/on rate at which power is applied to the heating element to maintain a desired temperature such as low, medium and high temperatures.
It is also an object of the present invention to provide a pulser circuit for automatically applying an on/off conducting pulse to a power transistor to maintain the desired temperature of the heating element.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide a step-up circuit for enabling the voltage or current to be increased only when a pulse is applied to the power transistor to supply current or voltage to the heating element.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide an attachment to the hair dryer/blower to enable a fluid spray to be selectively dispensed at the anterior end of the elongated hollow body portion.
Thus, the invention relates to a portable, cordless hair dryer/blower comprising an elongated hollow body portion having mass center line and including a blower motor and a heating element; a posterior end and an anterior end; a handle portion having a longitudinal axis extending substantially transversely from and along the mass center line of the elongated body portion, the handle portion including switch controls for operating the heating element and the blower motor: and a power source having a flat base and a mass center line aligned with the mass center line of the elongated hollow body portion for attachment to the handle portion substantially along its longitudinal axis such that (1) power is applied to the manual controls and (2) the flat base provides a platform structure for enabling the hair dryer/blower to stand alone.